Workmen's advocate., 1887-01-22
GOING BLINDF0LD.
SHARP CRITICISM OF THE NEW
 YORK PLATFORM.
\ Radical GOthamite Reviews the WOrk of a Labor COnyentiOn-"LabOr Chestnuts"..Taking EXcep.
 tions to Engel's Opin.
 iOns-POlitics.

NEW YORK, January l9.-Great things had been expected of the United Labor Party-perhaps too much, under the circumstances but the public was certainly war ranted in expecting something more definite than the platform which was adopted by the New York Con- vention of the Party, held on the 18th instant, and which we print below. After announcing the adop- tion of the name of "United Labor Party,' subject to the action of 8 national convention, the platform reads:
 "As a party we aim, among other things, at the restitution of the land to its rightful owners, the people, and the imposition of tax on land values, ire. spective of improvements. {.
 "At the abolition of the present mon- strous system of finances; at the abolition of the system of issuing lnterest-bearing bonds, bills of credit and notes, instead of legal tender, misunderstanding money; and at the establishment in it's stead of a national monetary system, in which circulating medium in necessary quantity shall issue direct to the people, without the intervention of banks, and | ,:ol, aI ,lnJl l>n e,,n legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private.
 ''At the abolition of the present waste. full, inadequate and one-sided system of private ownership of the means of trans portation and communication.
 "At the enfranchisement of our female fellow citizens.
 "At the abolition of all indirect tax: S ton, and on taxes on industry, or the products of labor.
 At the simplitication and thorough reformation of our judicial system, and the puritication of our courts; and
 "At the provision for adequate public industrial and scientific education.
 We aim at the enactment and rigid enforcement of sanitary laws that shall stay the deterioration of our species, and promote their development.
 "At the enactment of juster laws on the liability of employers to employees; of laws for the equalization of wages to public employees of both sexes; for the incorporation of trades unions and assc- citations; and for the limitation of the hours of labor, as well as for the rigid enforcement of the "eight-hour law in all municipal, State and national works; and
 "At the enactment of election laws which shall not, like those now in force, encourage intimidation, corruption and fraud.
 "We aim at the abolition of the pre- sent ridiculous Civil Service laws, and the establishment of wise administra- tive system which shall properly protect both the government and its employees.
 "At the abolition of the inhuman sys- tenn of child-labor.
 "At the abolition of the degrading competition of convict with honest la- Dor; of the contract system on public works; of the truck system,' of all class and property qualification for ser. vice on the jury and in the militia and of all class legislation, civil and criminal; and, finally,
 We aim at the abolition of every in stitution tending to the debasement of American citizens, and we shall strive to secure for them the full advantage of the civilization to which they are heirs. ,
 A careful study of this document will discover no essential principle save that of the money question (with which every workingman ii familiar) and the land. It IS, in fact, platform composed of the most hackneyed platitudes and "la Dor chestnuts," without one definite , expression as to radical reforms. One MT. Abner c. Thomas, of whom 1 have never before happened to hear, and who is to all intentI and purposes unknown in the arena of labor, delivered a thrilling ora tion upon the danger of having ar over-dlstinct platform, and the sub sequent proceedings of the Assem- ply indicates that his opinion wal shared by all. To the fsr-sighted reader it will be unnecessary to state t that the standpoint of MT. Abner c Thomas was essentially wrong, st